Liberty
by Some Writer Guy
Summary: Alek and Deryn thought had endured the worst the war had to offer. They were wrong. Now, a new enemy rises, threatening to tilt the delicate balance of the Great War forever.
1. Prolouge

September 2nd, 1864

"Mr. President, I regret to inform you that Atlanta has fallen. I don't believe we are still capable of fighting this war. Now might be the time consider the option of surrender."

"This… this is bad. General, do we have any other options"

"Well, we could…, no, that could never happen"

"Robert, we are desperate. We need to do everything we can to prevent being overrun by the northern forces."

"Okay, sir. Remember, when we first started planning this war, what were we counting on that would help us even odds against our enemy."

"Support from Britain and France, of course"

"Well, you must have heard about that new theory that some British scientist, Darwin, came up with 5 years ago, right."

"Of course. The Life Thread theory and the Theory of Evolution, detailed in his book, the_ Origin of Life. _How does this help us?"

"1 Year ago, Great Britain announced the creation of a revolutionary new technology, known as fabrication, that allows men to create animals, ones that don't exist naturally, but are actually "made" to the specification of the fabricator. The technology could be used for civilian, and, more relevantly, military, purposes."

"Yes, but what makes you think England will simply share this technology?"

"Britain sees this technology as a way to expand their power bloc. They have offered it to any country willing to ally itself with them."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Send an ambassador to England immediately."


	2. Russian Revolution, Part One

**Disclaimer: **The characters and plot of the Leviathan series are the sole intellectual property of Scott Westerfeld

"Sir, maybe something happened. I think it's time to consider the possibility that our contact has been compromised by tsarist forces."

"He'll be here, Robert. I'm sure of it."

"And how can you be sure of…"

"Comrade Stalin!" shouted Jack Featherstone, "for a second I thought you couldn't make it here, and my partner here actually thought you were caught by the tsarists. Of course, we all know that couldn't happen, correct? Did you bring the vodka? I haven't had a good drink since I got here!"

Colonel Jack Featherstone never truly trusted the Bolsheviks, but he always understood the benefits of having allies like Josef Stalin. The short Georgian man had proved himself useful many times over since they met, providing America with a link to the communists, as well as being able to report the latest happenings within Lenin's otherwise secretive and ultra-nationalist organization. Stalin had even managed to pull strings within the party to aid American policies at times. Thanks to his actions, the Greater American Union had a vital associate in a major enemy nation and would hopefully soon have the largest country in Europe as a client state.

"So, comrade, I trust everything has been going well since out last meeting?" Jack inquired.

"Well, mostly" said Stalin

Major Robert Colt, Featherstone's second-in-command narrowed his eyes. Colt, like small minority of Americans, absolutely hated Communism in all its forms, believing the ideal was evil and un-American. Jack, of course, saw this a nonsense, but even he couldn't change Robert's beliefs.

"What do you mean, mostly?" Robert inquired, his voice dripping with contempt, "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Pulling out his pistol, ironically a Colt Model 1913 Special Operations Pistol (Loosely based on the Mauser C96) Robert pinned Josef to a wall, the barrel of his gun to Stalin's head.

_Oh no, _thought Jack, _here we go again_

"Robert, drop the gun and let him go. Stalin, like he said, what do you mean by "mostly"," Jack commanded.

"A few days ago", Stalin began, "I discovered a letter from Lenin that was sent to Leon Trosky. As per you orders, I opened it and read the contents of the letter, intending to report then back to you as soon as possible. Colonel, Lenin intends to remove me from my position as General-Secretary. I disposed of the order, of course, but Lenin will figure out that I found it soon. You have to do something!"

""Okay. Stalin, I'm going to need IDs for me and the members of my squad. We're going to pay our friend Vladimir Lenin a visit."

Author's Note: Yes, I am aware that Darwin's book was call the origin of species, no the origin of life. In fact, I have read the book at least 3 times. However, as Darwin made a second, even larger discovery during his time in the Galapagos Islands, the name of the book would probably have changed from its title in our timeline.

I have to make a few changes to what Scott wrote as well: **Italy is Darwinist, and Eddie Malone is from the Atlanta Inquirer, not the New York World, in my story.**


	3. Chapter 3

The Leviathan series is the sole intellectual property of Scott Westerfeld. The characters of Jake Featherston, Cassius Madison, Earl Warren, on which some of my characters are based, are the property of Harry Turtledove. Josef Stalin is the property of the Russian Government. Dimitri Petrenko is the Property of Activision. Imperium of Man's Grand Inquisition belongs to Games Workshop. Robert Colt's last name is the property of Colt Firearms, inc. Louis Chenard is owned by me.

"Check your 6. Remember, no English"

"Да, сэр."

"I've been waiting for this for a long time."

As Jack walked down the road toward the Communist camp, 5 miles away, 4 members of his squad were ready to cut the power to the compound. The other 2, Robert Colt and Bruce Chen, were dug in beside the road leading to the camp, ready to pick up and stragglers. Jack loaded his custom-made .44 Magnum autorevolver; holding 7 shots (Are you really going to let your enemies defeat you with basic math skills?), it was the best firearm blood could buy. As expected, the Russian guard stopped him at the entrance.

Author's note:** Bold** sentences means that the sentence is meant to provide information, not be part of the story._ Italics_, as always, represent a character's thoughts. Underlined Sentences mean a character is speaking in a language other than English, and Highlighted sentences are used for important information.

"Halt and state your business."

"Message for Vladimir Lenin. I need to see him immediately. Here is my ID card"

"Everything seems to be in order. Welcome back, Dimitri Petrenko. Sorry for the inconvenience"

As Jack walked in, he began to look for things that he could exploit in case things went wrong. Of course, nothing ever went wrong on his operations. That's why the OSS formed the special activities platoon in the first place.

_ Blind spot between two guard towers on my right. The guard behind me isn't very attentive; he's probably about to go off-duty. Can surprise him if need be. Mooring tower to the front-left has a weakened strut. Defective design. If destroyed, falling trajectory would cause the structure to fall directly on the munitions building. _

"… and here you are, sir. Lenin's office. Have a nice day"

_Well, that was easier than expected. There'll probably be some sort of flare gun in his office so I can signal the guys at the power station. If not, I could always set of a large explosion._

A wave of cool air blew over Jack as he walked in to Lenin's office. He noticed that they had one of those new "air conditioner" things installed. The soviets were ultimate pragmatists. Unlike the other countries of Europe, they would use both mechanical and Darwinist technologies. The sight of war bears towing around US-style artillery cannons was… amusing, to say the least, since the bears hadn't been trained to carry fragile machinery, thus causing them to drag the cannons over tree stumps, into ditches, onto minefields, and such.

_Lenin's office is down the hall. Wait, there's a signal flare on the left. Perfect._

"Comrade Lenin, message for you"

"Come in. Is it from Trotsky, I've been waiting for him to get back to me"

"Mr. Lenin, it appears that you have passed away."

On cue, Jack whipped out his pistol. BANG! A shot rang out, and a geyser of blood rang out from the back of the Russian's head…

Featherstone's pistol was aimed toward the man's abdomen. He hadn't fired a shot. From the shadows of the room's balcony, a man's voice echoed, "So, it would seem as though I'm not the only man in the room"

In French.

Sorry about the short chapter. Having really bad writer's block right now. I can promise that the next chapter will be a lot better. Who wants see Deryn and Alek again. Well, you will pretty soon.


End file.
